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Parsha Toldot: Why More is More

Author: Nicole Wiesen

Jimmy Paul is no stranger to the subject matter—in fact, he’s something of an expert, crediting the wholesale wig catalogues that his hairstylist mother brought home with sparking his interest in the craft. But while the faux pieces he has created for fashion shows like Thom Browne and Adam Selman in recent years remain exaggerated statements meant for the runway, he’s the first to admit that creating an imminently wearable, real-world wig is a different story. According to Paul, giving a hairpiece everyday ease comes down to a few simple tenets, starting with the straightforward act of trying one on....

Early in the 19th century, the German Reform movement, which had eliminated bar mitzvah as the “coming of age” ceremony for its 13-year-old boys, instituted a new initiation into Jewish responsibility for its boys and girls: confirmation. Designed as the culmination of a course of study for teens, it was originally held on the Sabbath during Passover, Sukkot, or Hanukkah. Within a few years, it was moved to Shavuot, the holiday appropriate for expressing commitment to Jewish ideals and Jewish life, when the voluntary acceptance of God’s law is commemorated. Adopted by the Conservative movement and even some Orthodox...

In one word, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is a powerhouse. She’s not only a wife and a mother of six children, who are all 18 or younger. She is also the director of the Israel Law Center, which is dedicated to fighting terrorism, and works with Western intelligence agencies, law enforcement branches, and a network of volunteer lawyers to file legal actions on behalf of world Jewry. Nitsana’s many achievements include attaining more than $200 million in compensation for Israeli victims of terror and freezing over $600 million dollars of terror assets. We spoke with Nitsana about becoming a professional activist...

Emma Tarlo, the author of “Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair,” a book about the surprisingly diverting topic of the international hair trade, likes to pin bits of research to her bulletin board. A “frosty cluster of synthetic curls” from Brussels. A “small slither of hair weft” from a floor in Brighton, England. There’s also some human-hair rope from India, fake fuchsia hair from a punk shop in London and a lone black strand (not the author’s own) that she plucked from a Chinese airplane blanket and tucked into her notebook, whereupon, she writes, it sprang out “like an...

While the Reform movement was theoretically in favor of women’s ordination as far back as 1922, it was not until 50 years later that the first women was ordained as a rabbi in North America. BY HOWARD SACHAR While the movement for women’s ordination was centered in the United States, the first female rabbi was actually ordained in Germany. Regina Jonas (1902-1944) was a 1930 graduate of the Hochschule fur die Wissenschaft des Judenthums (Academy for the Science of Judaism) where she wrote a thesis entitled, “Can A Women Be a Rabbi According to Halachic Sources?” Although her...